Fierce battle: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah celebrating a point against Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida. — Reuters
PETALING JAYA: It could not have been scripted better.
Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are set for a rare and historic shot at the World Championships crown on National Day today.
And the duo have vowed to soak in every moment of the final but keep calm under pressure while giving their best against China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning.
Yesterday, Pearly-Thinaah played brilliantly in the semi-finals when they came from behind to claim a hard-fought win over Japan’s world No. 3 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida 14-21, 21-13, 21-12 at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle in Paris.
It was only their third win against the gritty Japanese pair in 16 meetings.
They are the first pair to clear the semis in the world meet since the tournament’s inception in 1977.
The in-form world No. 2 pair are now just one win away from emulating men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, who captured Malaysia’s first ever world title in 2022 in Tokyo.
“We need to stay calm and keep reminding each other on our strategy and be consistent,” Thinaah told the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“Another main thing is to enjoy every shot we play. Sometimes we get too carried away and we don’t enjoy the process, so this is one of the key factors that we have to keep reminding each other.
“The main focus is on ourselves. Whatever challenges we face, we need to discuss with each other and come up with a solution together.”
On reaching the final, Thinaah said that it has not been an easy journey for her and Pearly.
“It still feels unbelievable that we won today (yesterday) because we went through a really bumpy ride the past one or two weeks,” said Thinaah.
“A lot people can only see the outcome but only both of us and the coaches know what we went through. Thankfully, everyone around us also did not give up on the both of us. We’re definitely very grateful for that.
“To be here today (yesterday), words cannot describe how happy we are but we still want to keep ourselves grounded because there is still one match to go.”
Pearly-Thinaah had been the subject of intense speculation on their future in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) after not signing their contracts for months before finally agreeing new deals last month.
The pair though did not let their contract situation distract them as they reached four finals this year prior to the world meet and captured the Thailand Open title.
Pearly-Thinaah finished runners-up in the Indonesian Masters, Indonesian Open and Japan Open and will be keen to go one better in Paris.
And today, it will be a perfect moment to add another – the most precious one among all.
RESULTS
SEMI-FINALS
Women’s singles: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Putri Kusuma (Ina) 21-17, 14-21, 21-6.
Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (Mas) bt Chiharu Shida-Nami Matsuyama (Jpn) 14-21, 21-13, 21-12.
Mixed doubles: Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui (Chn) 11-21, 23-21, 21-18; Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (Mas); Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (Mas) bt Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) 21-18, 21-16.
QUARTER-FINALS
Men’s singles: Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Jonatan Christie (Ina) 21-14, 18-21, 21-8; Anders Antonsen (Den) bt Chou Tien-chen (Tpe) 21-17, 23-21.
Men’s doubles: Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (Mas) 23-21, 21-23, 21-15; Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) bt Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) 16-21, 21-19, 21-17; Chen Boyang-Liu Yi (Chn) bt Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan (Tpe) 21-15, 21-14; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) 21-12, 21-19.
Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Sim Yu-jin (Kor) 21-10, 21-6; Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) 22-20, 21-14; Putri Kusuma (Ina) bt Pusarla V. Sindhu (Ind) 21-14, 13-21, 21-16.
Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian (Chn) 19-21, 21-16, 21-9; Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) bt Febriana Kusuma-Amallia Pratiwi (Ina) 21-15, 21-16.
Mixed doubles: Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi (Chn) 21-19, 21-18; Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui (Chn) bt Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito (Jpn) 21-14, 21-9.
